1 . When I was a child, my mother didn’t force me to eat everything in my dish. She said I had to ____ every food three times. Her ____ was the first time to try it, the second time to get over the fact that you had just tried it, and the third to ____ that you don’t like it. After that, if I still ____ the taste, she would ____ make me eat it again. Her reasonable approach worked almost every time- except with bananas, which I still don’ t eat now. As I grew older, I brought that simple ____ into my life. I had been ____ the diving board at the pool, but I had ____ to make the first jump off the board. When I breathed in water, my mother jumped in to ____ me. Before she could even reach me, I was up and out of the pool, heading back to that diving board. I jumped off ____. More coughing followed, but I was determined to get over this fear. When I got out of the pool the second time, my mom tried to cover me with a towel. Instead, I threw off the towel and ____ trying. The third time there was no ____ and no water in my nose. In fact there were ____ from the others at the pool. At that point, I fell in love with the pool. In my mid-thirties, I left a successful job that didn’t satisfy me in order to achieve my dream of being a writer. Having been ____ twice, I tried for a third time. I have been happily living the life of a writer ever since. We are all afraid of something unknown. But how can we be sure that something won’t be ____ unless we give it a try?

2 . I was travelling on an overnight bus from Kolhapur to Aurangabad. The ordinary bus was more than ________; all 55 seats were taken and there were some 20 people ________. The hot day added to the discomfort of the rough, 10-hour journey. I didn’t get a seat, so I had to stand quite ________.

After around two very long hours, I was ________ and bored. I kept trying to ________ myself, changing my body weight from one leg to the other. I suddenly sensed a soft hand ________ my elbow (肘), asking for attention. Turning around, I ________ a middle-aged man with a smile looking up at me. He stood up and said I could take his ________ for a while. I pleasantly ________ it with a sigh of ________ , and the man seemed happy too. After about 20 minutes, I ________ him to take back his space. A man who was sitting by the window had observed our ________.

Just then, something magical happened. Our observer stood up and ________ his seat to another standing man. Unexpectedly, we had caused a series of reactions: This game of seat-sharing ________ through the bus like wildfire and, before long, almost all the standees got a chance to be seated. People even started ________ each other while exchanging positions, and soon began ________ jokes and singing. I could say, the rest of the journey was quite ________.

The bus reached its destination (目的地) the next morning. The groups quickly said goodbye and went their ________. But this extraordinary ________ has stayed with me even after all these years. It showed me an important fact that we can all share what we ________ and help our co-passengers on this journey called life.

6 . I never see myself as a miracle. I was just an ________ person with realistic goals and big dreams. I was a 19-year-old student at the university of Texas and well on my way to fulfilling my big dream of becoming a surgeon.

On February 17, 1981, a ________ car accident happened to me and after the four hours of operation, I ________. I still could not talk, my entire right side was paralyzed (不能动的) but ________ I was stable. After two weeks I improved enough to be ________ to a rehabilitation (康复) hospital.

It took me a lot of hard work but I ________ returned to the university of Texas in 1983—a year and a half after almost ________. The next few years were very ________ for me, but I truly believe that in order to see ________ in life you have to experience something bad. Maybe I have experienced too much, but I believe in living each day to the fullest, and doing the very ________ I can. And each new day was ________ and very full, for   ________ attending classes at the university I ________ therapy (理疗) three to five days each week at Brackenridge hospital.

Early, during my therapy, my father ________ repeating to me one of his favorite sayings. I have repeated it almost every day after being hurt: “Mile by mile it’s a (n) ________; yard by yard it’s hard; but inch by inch it’s a cinch (易事).”

I thought of those ________, and I thought of my family who ________ believed in me as I climbed the steps to receive my ________ from the dean of Liberal Arts at the university of Texas on the graduation ceremony in June of 1986. Excitement and ________ filled my heart as I heard the dear announce that I graduated with “highest honors”, and was chosen as one of the most outstanding ________ in the college of Liberal Arts.

7 . A famous philosopher said, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” Travelling can provide different experience and ______ our horizons.

Last year, I enrolled in a summer vocal(唱歌) institute at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in New Jersey, US. There I truly experienced the kindness and warmth of people all over the world ______ their skin color, language or nationality.

As a ______ who knew little about the place, I worried and was extremely cautious about everything. I didn’t dare to talk with anyone. ______, with the help of others I got over my embarrassment. I remembered that when I first ______ the classroom, the students gave me a warm welcome. I began to ______.

Later, they even held a party for me, which also showed their _____. They talked about various topics ______China, such as the Great Wall, kungfu, the giant panda and Chinese cuisine. I was surprised to find that they had great ______ about Chinese culture. The more we ______, the more relaxed and confident I became. I felt at home with the ______ topics.

Maybe it was the great atmosphere or the fact that I wanted them to know more about China that ______ me to sing Chinese songs for them. With their applause, I realized that it was a ______ beginning of my time in a foreign country.

Apart from their warmth, their ______ music impressed me a lot: Whenever you went to the studio, you would find someone playing a musical instrument or singing. It was like entering a world of music. Music was a(n)______ theme for them. They loved it and ______ every chance to play it. In such a purely musical ______ , my own attachment to music became even ______. I played music more often and exchanged ideas with everyone who was interested in. I fell completely in love with music.

Time flew. ______ I knew it, the visit was over. But it was an extraordinary experience. It taught me to be more open-minded and more ______ about my culture. In the future, I will explore and embrace this world bravely as well as enjoy the further study in music.

8 . Decades ago, I traveled alone for the first time in my life. The trip to Colorado was not for business or family reasons, but just to travel and ________.

As I prepared for it, I felt excited and ________ at the same time. Would it be fun? Would I be bored? Would I stay in bed all day or would I jump with excitement to do the next thing? I wasn’t ________. Little did I know that it was going to be so ________ a journey of self-discovery.

As a good wife and mom, for me, travel is always about the ________: Always thinking of who would ________ what. Because it’s about family time. But when travel ________, who would I connect with? What would I do? Well, I found that I got to do anything I ________!

While traveling, I met locals and also other ________. Honestly, I had conversations ________—on planes, while hiking, in restaurants.

It was quite a(n) ________ experience to meet a mom of 18 kids and hundreds of adopted kids, a cookie baker, and an internationally ranked marathon runner. The inspiring stories I discovered were ________ and nothing was like my wonderful and ________ life at home. I got to go rock climbing by myself, go hiking solo, and eat ________. And it was all ________, going smoothly. Actually, I felt surprisingly ________.

It was just me, my SUV and my backpack for a week. ________, it was a breath of fresh air that I didn’t ________ existed. It’s wonderful to be back home and know that possibilities are ________ and there is so much more out there to ________ and discover!

10 . Thirteen can be a challenging age. Not only did I have to _______ my changing body, I also had to deal with the _______ move from my country home to a crowded suburb.

When we moved, my beloved _______, a small brown pony, had to be sold. Feeling alone, I couldn’t eat or sleep. I missed my friends and my pony. My father realized that and _______ an old horse for me in the market. I named him Cowboy.

Cowboy was without a doubt the _______ horse in the world, and he was pigeon-toed and knock-kneed. But I didn’t _______ his faults. I loved him beyond all reason. I joined a riding club and _______ rude comments about Cowboy’s looks. I never revealed how I felt, but deep down inside, my heart was _______. When Cowboy and I entered the events _______ the horse is judged on appearance, we were ________ out of the game. This ________ experience made me determined to do something.

And then I realized that my only chance to ________ would be in the timed-speed events. I chose barrel racing (绕桶比赛). For the whole next month I woke up early every day, rode Cowboy five miles to the arena (比赛场) and we ________ for hours in the hot sun.

My turn ________ came. At the signal, we dashed toward the first barrel, quickly whipped around it and with perfect precision ________ the second and thundered on to the third. We tore around the final curve and shot for the ________ line. No cheers filled the air. The end of our run was met with surprised ________. With the sound of my heart pounding in my ears, I heard the ________ call our time. Cowboy and I had beaten other fancy horses and won the blue ribbon!

________, I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realized that no matter what the difficulties, I’d always come out a ________ if I wanted something badly enough to work for it. I can be the master of my own destiny.